Tag Archives: Lucuma fruit

I just love it when people are creative. The raw caramel bar from Righteously Raw by EarthSource Organics is a wonderful example of an insanely high cacao content bar (90%) that is actually easy to scarf down. Unlike any other intense raw bar I have tried, it has the added appeal of a chewy center made with dates, lucuma fruit and agave. With seven grams of sugar in each mini bar (there are three to a 2.3 ounce package) you get enough sugar to beautifully balance that heady cacao rush.

The Peruvian Lucuma is a delicately flavored sub-tropical fruit with high levels of calcium, niacin, fiber. It has been an important crop since ancestral times, proven by the many ceramic remains from the Moche and later Inca cultures. In fact, it was once referred to as the Gold of the Incas. Its tasty flavor and aroma are hard to describe or compare to any other. Some say it tastes like caramel custard and others a bit like pumpkin, apricot, or mango. Its texture, unlike most fruits, is dry, quite starchy and with a caramel-like consistency that melts in your mouth. So you can see how inspired it was to add this to a filling.

I would actually love to see this date-lucuma mixture in thin-shelled bonbons. In this manifestation there is a high ratio of chocolate to filling. As the chocolate is such a strong presence, I would enjoy more of that luscious chewy center. Now that I think about it, I would probably buy it by the jar it’s so yummy.

I also tried two mini squares, each .35 ounces. The Divine Mint (82%) has just the right amount of organic peppermint, enough to have an impact, but not so much that it’s overwhelming. Their Pure Dark (83%) let the raw taste come through more assertively.

In my experience, raw chocolate has a tendency to be a bit softer in texture than its heated cousins. I didn’t notice this as much in the Lucuma-filled bar as I did in the mini squares; but, even there the temper was snappy and the chocolate had a nice, light sheen.